


A Soft Touch

by Lassarina



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-24
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-24 12:56:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/940251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lassarina/pseuds/Lassarina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How <i>did</i> Rinoa get Cid to send SeeD to the Forest Owls?  Cid's always been a bit of a soft touch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Soft Touch

_She looks like Edea._

For a moment, it is twenty-five years ago and he is seeing his wife as he first saw her, dark hair and luminous eyes. But Edea never wore white-- _I will not go garbed in the colour of death_ \--and Edea never moved with the bright confidence of someone who knows she is seen and admired. Edea's confidence is quieter, born of innate grace and self-control, straight-backed as a soldier and gentle as a nurse. The momentary illusion, and the warmth of hope that came with it, shatters, leaving him to force a smile at the child who stands before him with all the unwitting arrogance of a girl who has never had the world tell her _no._

"You're Headmaster Cid, right?" Her voice has the cultured lilt of someone educated by the best private tutors, and she certainly doesn't come from Balamb. "Hi, I'm Rinoa." She holds out her hand, and diamonds sparkle at her wrist.

"Rinoa would like to request SeeD's assistance," Seifer drawls from behind her. Cid knows that Seifer shouldn't be here--he didn't pass the exam, so he doesn't have the privilege of attending the party--but he can't bring himself to tell him to go. Given his attitude problems, it's unlikely Seifer will pass the SeeD exam before he reaches twenty, and Cid already knows from personal experience that Seifer's other dream will end in heartbreak whether he achieves it or not; no point in redoubling the pain.

Cid shakes Rinoa's hand and considers her more carefully. Her handshake is light, but not limp. He doesn't know much about clothes, but even he can tell that her dress is expensive. Perhaps she can afford the rates that NORG prefers. It's always easier when he can justify setting SeeDs to help. Cid knows he is almost comically disinclined to engage in conflict for a man who runs a war machine. "Certainly. Shall we step into a side room? There's no need for us to shout over the music."

"Of course." She follows him to a side room, and somewhere along the way Seifer disappears into the crowd as a Garden faculty member tries to make his way toward their little group. Cid gives his best clueless shrug when the faculty asks where Almasy went, and continues his escort mission.

He closes the door behind them and the quiet is almost deafening in its own right. He turns to face her, and she smiles brightly at him.

He can't imagine what a girl this young would need with a mercenary force, unless she's looking for a bodyguard.

"You're looking to form a contract with SeeD?" he asks her.

Her eyes light up. "I'm one of the Forest Owls," she says quickly. "We're a resistance group in Timber dedicated to throwing President Deling out of Galbadia. His oppression of other nations has gone on long enough!"

Her accent is suddenly familiar to him; with those drawled vowels and softened consonants, she sounds just like Martine, which means she's Galbadian. What on earth is she doing in a resistance faction in Timber?

She continues to describe her resistance faction--one, he knows, of dozens, all equally unlikely to succeed--and he sees Edea again, presenting her case for running an orphanage. Edea was quieter, less overtly enthusiastic but no less passionate as she spoke of rescuing children orphaned by the Sorceress War and giving them a safe home where they would be loved. He hears Rinoa's descriptions of the harms Deling has wrought on Timber, and he hears again Edea's litany of the harm done to those children.

"We don't have much money," Rinoa says abruptly. "I mean--" She twists the bracelet on her wrist. "I know what it looks like. But this is stuff my dad bought." She shifts her weight to her right foot and scuffs the left across the carpet, the first awkward gesture he's seen her make. "But we'd really appreciate any help you could give us."

He really can't tell her no. Besides, he saw her on the dance floor with Squall earlier--the only time outside battle he's seen that boy move like he's forgotten to hold himself in, protected from the world. If she can do that, she bears watching. And he has some money put by. Edea's memory laughs in the back of his head. _Aren't you a little old to be taken in by a young girl's charm?_ she would ask, smiling in her quiet way. And she's right, he is, but there are other reasons; little Selphie has finally transferred to Balamb, and young Irvine is doing very well in Galbadia. He could reunite them with this mission, if he chose.

"I think we can work something out," he tells her, and her dazzling smile is just like Edea's on their wedding day.

He never could tell Edea no, either.


End file.
